AN: Chapter Eight. A new character is introduced, a scary experience for Caroline, and a lovely ending. (This is so far my longest chapter.)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Caroline, Cave or any other character that belongs to Valve. I only own my OC's.
...
A little over month had passed since the incident with Rick. Luckly for Cave, Rick didn't press charges. Probally out of fear they'd do a drug test on him. Cave had been making sure to look after Caroline ever since, driving her to and from school and walking with her to get food at lunch time. Cave felt a need to protect her. He didn't want anything like that happening to her again and Caroline rather enjoyed having Cave around. She felt safer.
One day as they were heading into math class, Caroline noticed a new guy sitting in the back of the room. He was tall, about 6' 7", red hair, blue eyes, with freckles. He was really skinny too.
Cave turned to Caroline. "Who's the new guy?"
She shrugged. "I don't know."
The teacher walked in. She went behind her desk and addressed the class.
"I'd like to introduce a new student today. His name is Wheatley Merchant. Would you stand up and greet the class, Wheatley."
The tall red head stood up.
"Hello."
"Hello." the class responded. Caroline noticed his British accent.
...
Lunch time came and Cave and Caroline had decided to eat at school. They were sitting in the cafeteria when Caroline noticed Wheatley sitting all by himself.
"Poor guy. Being the new kid always sucks." Caroline said.
"Well, why don't we invite him to sit with us? That way he won't be alone."
Caroline remembered Cave treating her the same way when they were little. She smiled.
Cave waved at Wheatley and motion for him to come to thier table. Wheatley got up, picked up his tray, and walked over.
"Hey, your Wheatley. Your that new guy in our math class." Cave said.
Wheatley nodded.
"Why don't you sit with us?" Caroline said.
Wheatley smiled shyly. "Ok." He sat down across from Cave.
"So what brings you to our school?" Caroline asked.
"Moved here from London. Dad has family here."
"Cool. So how do you like it so far?"
Wheatley shrugged. "I don't know. Your the first people who have even bothered to talk to me."
"Well, you always welcome to sit with us, Wheatley."
Wheatley smiled. "Thanks. That's nice to hear."
Caroline smiled.
Wheatley looked from Cave, to Caroline, and back to Cave. He noticed Cave's arm on the back of Caroline's chair.
"Um, can I ask a question?"
They nodded.
"Um, are you two, like, you know, dating?"
Cave and Caroline looked at each other.
"No, we're just friends." Caroline said.
Cave felt his heart sink a little.
"So what do you like to do?" Cave asked, trying to distract himself from the sinking feeling.
"Well, I like to write stories, and play basketball..."
Cave grinned. "You know, me and my friend James are looking for someone to replace...to shoot hoops with us. How about you join us in gym class today?"
Wheatley grinned equally as much. "That sounds fantastic!"
...
After lunch, Caroline had gone to the bathroom. She had been in there a long time so Amy had come in to find her. Caroline was pacing the floor.
"Caroline we're going to be late for music class."
Caroline looked at her watch. "Just a few more minutes, and I'll be right there."
Amy eyed her suspiciously. "What's going on?"
"Nothing really. Don't worry about it. I'll be there in just a minute. Go ahead and go to class."
Amy knew something was wrong. "Caroline, tell me. What's going on?"
Caroline slowly walked into one of the stalls and came out with a pregnancy test in her hand. Amy's eyes grew wide.
"Oh, wow..."
Caroline's eyes were full of tears. "What am I going to do if it comes back positive? My parents barley leave enough money for me. There's no way I can take care of a baby."
Amy walked up to her and pulled her into a hug. "We'll figure something out, I promise. You won't have to do it alone."
Caroline was greatful for the support. She sniffed and hugged her back.
"Thanks, Amy."
They stood there in silence as they waited for the results. Caroline was occupied by her thoughts.
I know I want children, but not like this. Maybe I could give the child away. Let someone adopt it.
Caroline knew the minute she thought of it, she couldn't do it.
I know what it feels like to have parents that never wanted you. I couldn't do that to a child. It's not it's fault it's mother is a idiot and it's father is a worthless son of a...
Suddenly, Caroline's watch alarm went off. Her and Amy looked at each other. Caroline took a deep breath.
Let's get this over with.
She checked the test. Negative. She let out a sigh of relief.
Amy smiled at her friend. "See, it all worked out."
Caroline smiled and threw away the test. She headed to music class with Amy.
The teacher noticed they were late. Which he knew was unusual for them.
"Girls, your late. Is everthing ok?"
Caroline smiled one of the biggest smiles she could remember.
"Yes. Everything is wonderful."
The teacher just nodded. Caroline sang just a little bit louder that day.
...
Wheatley, James, and Cave were playing basketball in the gym. Wheatley scored yet another point.
"Damn, man. Your good." James said.
Wheatley smiled a little. "I guess so."
James laughed. "There is no guessing about it. Your good. If Rick were still here, we would have wiped the floor with him by now."
Cave's felt some of his anger rising at the sound of Rick's name. "I've got to get some air."
Wheatley looked confused. "What's wrong with him? What happened to your friend?"
"Cave has issues with Rick."
"What happened?"
James took a deep breath. "Since you met Cave, you've no doubt met Caroline, right?"
Wheatley nodded.
James continued. "Well, Cave has a bit of a thing for her. Well he asked her out, and she turned him down. Rick, the guy who used to play with us, took advange of her. Got her drunk and high, then had sex with her. She was so upset when she realized what had happened. Cave was pissed. He beat Rick's face so bad, he was unconscious for a while, and had to have stitches in his lips, nose and one of his ears. Rick never came back to school after that. Word is he moved out of town."
Wheatley stared in disbelief. "Wow...Cave doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who would do that."
"Everyone has thier limits."
Wheatley nodded.
After Cave came back, James apologized. Cave told him not to worry about it. The guys continued to play for the rest of the gym period.
...
Brittnay, Caroline, and Amy were enjoying some girl time at Amy's house after school. Brittnay was doing everyone's make-up, Amy was picking out clothes, and Caroline was doing everyone's hair. The girls were talking about thier usual topic, boys.
"I think I might dump, Chris. He's getting way too boring." Amy said.
Caroline and Brittnay looked at each other as if to say: We saw this coming.
"Well, speaking of break-ups, me and James have decided we're better off as friends."
Caroline and Amy looked at her in shock.
"Wow, you two have been dating for, what, 6 years?" Amy said.
Brittnay nodded. "We both felt like we weren't going anywhere. We had basically boiled down to becoming friend with benefits and neither of us really wanted that. So we felt it was time to move on."
"Oh." Caroline said.
Amy suddenly got nervous. "Um. Caroline. I feel like I need to apologize to you."
Caroline looked confused. "For what?"
"For hounding you so much about getting a boyfriend. If I'd have know what was going to happen, I would have never bugged you about it."
"I'm sorry too. Guess we weren't being very good friends, were we?" Brittnay said sadly.
Caroline sighed. "I'm the one who should have backed out. I knew it wasn't a good idea to go to his place. I just didn't listen to my instincts."
Amy put her hand on Caroline's arm. "How about we all screwed up?"
Brittnay agreed.
Caroline smiled a little. "Ok, sounds good."
...
The girls continued to have fun for the next few hours. Suddenly, Caroline's cell phone went off. Her alarm was telling her it was time to head home.
"I've got to go guys, sorry. Have to get up early and get the bills paid before school. I'll see you guys later, and Amy I promise I'll return this dress."
Amy smiled. "Don't worry about it."
Caroline smiled. "Thanks. Bye guys."
"Bye" the girls said in unison.
Caroline walked out of Amy's house and began the long walk home. As she turned the first corner, a car pulled up beside her. It was Cave.
"What are you doing walking alone at this time of night?"
"Heading home. I have to get bills paid in the morning."
"Well, hop in, I'll drive you home."
"Cave, you really don't have to."
"It's not safe for a beautiful woman to be walking alone at night. Come on get in and I'll take you home."
Caroline blushed at the compliment. "Your not going to give up are you?"
"Nope. I'll drive really slow beside you the whole way if I have to."
Caroline shook her head. "Fine, you win."
She got into the car and shut the door. Cave started to drive. Once she was in the car he noticed the dress she was wearing. Black, knee length, showing a modest amount of clevage. He also noticed she was wearing a light bit of make-up. He hoped Caroline wouldn't notice the effect her apperance was having on him.
"So, what were you doing on the other side of town at this hour?" Caroline asked.
"I could ask you the same question."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "I was at Amy's."
"Ah. I was giving Wheatley a ride home."
"Oh, really. I didn't know he lived out here."
"Yep. Just a few blocks from where I picked you up."
They pulled up into Caroline's driveway. Cave stopped the car and got out.
"What are you doing?" Caroline asked.
"Making sure you get to the door safely." Cave said, smiling.
Caroline rolled her eyes and chuckled. "I'm sure I'll be fine walking from the driveway to my door."
Cave laughed. "Maybe I'm just using it as an excuse to spend as much time with you as possible."
Caroline smiled. "And why would you want to do that?"
"Because I think your beautiful and smart. And I'm hoping that one of these days I'll ask you out and you'll actually say yes."
He's persistant isn't he? Well, he is a nice guy and he's been so protective of me this past month. It's been nice and I know he wouldn't do anything I didn't want him to. Why am I not giving him a chance?
Caroline walked up to Cave and gently placed a kiss on his lips. "Maybe I'm just waiting for you to ask me again."
...
Aww, now how was that ending? Caroline's been through alot, so it was nice to write some happy moments for her. There's more in store for her, however, because as we all know, life has it's bumps. (Can't you tell she's one of my favorite Portal 2 characters? LOL)